Charmy Bee (チャーミー・ビー,Chāmī Bī?) is a fictional character from the Sonic the Hedgehog series. He is an extremely hyperactive six-year-old anthropomorphic honeybee with a big heart. He is youngest member and co-founder of the Chaotix Detective Agency. Charmy first appeared in the Sonic the Hedgehog manga, but was later used for the games, in which he first debuted in Knuckles' Chaotix.

While Charmy is always hyperactive, bee-brained, loud, immature and often gets on his teammates' nerves, his tracking skills are nonetheless an invaluable assist to the Chaotix Detective Agency and a crucial part of their team. As such, both Vector and Espio treat Charmy as their equal.

Contents

History

Knuckles' Chaotix

Charmy makes his first game appearance in Knuckles' Chaotix. According to the English manual, he is a friend of Knuckles the Echidna, who is visiting "Carnival Island" to search for new types of flowers when Dr. Robotnik makes a surprise attack on the island. In the Japanese version, Charmy is out doing what bees do best when he arrives at an island and is captured by Robotnik, who is currently taking over the island.

In both cases, he is captured and placed in Robotnik's Combi Catcher, and becomes one of the several characters the player can choose to play as, or play with (as a partner character). Charmy can fly, and as such can do a dash in any direction instead of jumping. He can also start hover, which allows him and his partner to fall at a much slower and more controlled rate.

Sonic Heroes

In Sonic Heroes, Charmy is part of the Chaotix detective agency along with Espio the Chameleon and Vector the Crocodile. One day he brings a package to the group, which contains a walkie-talkie. The voice behind it (referred as the the Client by the team) promises the Chaotix a large reward of money if they complete some missions for him, which they do. Charmy is the flight member of Team Chaotix, which lets him air lift the other two to higher areas, or to kick them at enemies.

After Dr. Eggman is defeated by the heroes and melts in to a metal puddle. the Chaotix free the client from the room he is imprisoned in. The client turns out to be Eggman, which surprises Charmy and Espio. After Eggman explains that he plans to pay the group after he takes over Earth, the Chaotix believe that Eggman has no money and look ready to attack the Doctor. Vengefully, Charmy starts stinging the doctor with his stinger. After that, Eggman explains to the group that he was locked in the room by someone and Vector asks him who it was.

That someone turns out to be Metal Sonic who had betrayed and imprisoned Eggman, explaining why he needed them to free him. Charmy and his friends arrive to see Metal Sonic proceeding to transform into Metal Madness. Eggman tells the heroes that the only way to defeat it is by using the Chaos Emeralds but thinks that none of them have them. Eggman is then shocked to see the others all with the Emeralds with Charmy holding the cyan Emerald. They then stall Metal Madness by fighting his left side, so that Team Sonic could utilize a super transformation.

After Metal's defeat, Vector is reminded by Charmy about the money Eggman claimed to be rewarding them, they then chase him in anger.

Shadow the Hedgehog

Charmy and the Chaotix work on a new mission in Shadow the Hedgehog. They all appear in the cut-scene prior to the Mad Matrix stage, but Charmy's most notable part of the game is on the Prison Island stage, in which he is a partner character. When Shadow the Hedgehog goes to the island, he finds Charmy, who explains that Vector sent him there to find five "top secret discs" that belongs to GUN. The player can choose whether or not to help him find these discs. Unlike most partner characters in the game, Charmy cannot be controlled by the second controller in the GameCube and PlayStation 2 versions, as he is constantly airborne.

In the Last Story, Charmy inadvertently saves Earth when ramming his stinger into a computer aboard the Space Colony ARK while helping Espio and Vector hack in. By doing this, Charmy activates a videotape that allows Shadow to break free of Black Doom's mind control.

Sonic Colors

Charmy appears in the DS version of Sonic Colors as a non-playable character with the rest of Team Chaotix on a mission to investigate Eggman's theme park and also gives Sonic a mission on Planet Wisp.

Sonic Generations

In the console/PC version of Sonic Generations, Charmy attended and helped prepare Sonic’s surprise birthday party. As the celebration started, however, the Time Eater suddenly appeared and Charmy was sucked into one of the Time Eater's Time Holes and ended up in the White Space, where he was turned into a statue due to the Time Eater's effects.

Charmy after returning to normal.

Eventually, Charmy was returned to normal by Classic Sonic (Sonic's past self) and Modern Sonic (Sonic's present self). When Classic and Modern Sonic confronted the Time Eater, which was revealed to be controlled by Modern Eggman and Classic Eggman, Charmy arrived at the battle with the others and cheered on both Sonics, allowing them both to transform into Super Sonic. When the Sonics defeated the Time Eater, Charmy and the others were sent back to the present. Continuing the party from where it left, Charmy later waved goodbye to Classic Sonic and Classic Tails when they returned to their own time.

Mario and Sonic series

Mario and Sonic at the Olympic Games

Mario & Sonic at the Olympic Winter Games

Charmy reappears as a more active referee in Mario & Sonic at the Olympic Winter Games. In the DS version, the Chaotix were traveling, and left poor Charmy behind in Cubyrinth. When the player finds him without Vector, he won't open the door until the player finds Vector. When he/she finds Vector and take him to Charmy, Charmy will argue with Vector and then he will start a quiz. If the player succeeds, he will open the locked gates and cheer. After the player talks to him for a while, Charmy then can give the player the number of whitestones for Dream Island (Blizland, Cubyrinth, Sparkletown).

Sonic Runners

Personality

Charmy is hyperactive and scatterbrained, and not too bright. Because he is a child, he would rather play than work, as shown in the Chaotix' first level of Sonic Heroes. When the team is receiving their first mission at the beachy Seaside Hill, Charmy is hovering around singing "Sea, sea, sea". However, he is also very friendly, lighthearted and cheerful. Due to his age, he is not as skilled a detective as Vector or Espio, but he is nonetheless valuable to the team. It is possible he is also greedy like Vector, as they had dollar signs in their eyes when their client promised a large payment (Sonic Heroes), although, as children are wanting to do, he may just be emulating Vector's behavior.

He shows a deep respect, even admiration, for Shadow in Shadow the Hedgehog. When Shadow kills a black alien, to which Charmy says, "Shadow, you're so cool!"

Abilities

Charmy, like many other Sonic characters, can run at high speeds, but is mostly known for his flying ability, as he is the flight character for Team Chaotix in Sonic Heroes. He can use his stinger as a method of attack when he is alone and has the ability to somehow warp between large flowers, thus helping him and his friends to get around obstacles and complete their missions more quickly. In the game, if the team does not get all of the items by the time they finish a zone, Charmy can activate a flower and take them back to the beginning of the level. He also has acute hearing and is good at finding lost objects. Like other flight members in Sonic Heroes, Charmy can use Thunder Shoot, a move in which he charges his friends with electricity and kicks them at enemies. In Sonic Heroes, it is shown that Charmy is strong enough to lift both Espio and Vector off the ground and carry them whilst flying for a limited amount of time. Though he doesn't seem to excel at it, Charmy also plays drums during the "Chaotix Recital" Team Blast.

Appearances In Other Media

Shogakukan no Gakushuuzasshi/CoroCoro Special

Charmy Bee originally appeared as a recurring character in the early manga, with his debut in the September 1992 issue of Shogaku Ninensei. In his debut, Charmy is said to be Sonic's partner and helps him out when in a pinch. He resides in a time box of unknown location and has the ability to manipulate time, which he uses to rewind to the moment before Sonic got into trouble

Manga Trivia

This is the first licensed appearance of Charmy overall, predating Knuckles' Chaotix by roughly two and a half years.

His appearance in Shogaku Ninensei appears vastly different to any of his game designs, down to only donning goggles when using his device to manipulate time. His appearance in CoroCoro Special, like Eimi, is very similar to his debut game appearance. He doesn't have a nose in either appearance.

Sonic the Comic

In Sonic the Comic, Charmy is a native of the Special Zone (as are the other members of Chaotix). Just like in the games, he is extremely scatterbrained and hyper, frequently annoying his team-mates to the point of insanity with his banter, odd speech patterns and cries of "righty-diddly-doo!" Due to his apparent insanity, he is frequently dismissed as a mere pest, although on several occasions he has managed to win the day single-handedly with his unorthodox solutions (like using worker bees to turn the Fundamental Four into a vase).[2]

Like in the Archie series, Charmy is the son of the Queen Bee and thus the prince of the Hive. However, in Sonic the Comic his teammates do not know this and he insists that they do not find out.[3]

Sonic the Hedgehog (Archie)

In the Archie Comics series, Charmy Bee is the prince of bees of the Golden Hive Colony. He felt pressured by his upcoming royal responsibilities and ran away from home, making his way to Angel Island. He found himself becoming a member of the Chaotix and assisted the group on Angel Island for time before returning home. When Golden Hive Colony was destroyed by the Eggman Empire, Charmy survived along with his fiancé, Saffron, and the two fled to Knothole. Along with other members of Chaotix, Charmy was taken prisoner during an attack on Knothole by Dr. Eggman that resulted in the city's destruction, but was subsequently rescued. He was also briefly subjected to the effects of the Egg Grape Chamber before he was freed.

Following the events of the Worlds Collide crossover, Charmy is now virtually indistinguishable from his game counterpart.

Sonic X

In the anime Sonic X, the Chaotix crew play a very minor role in Season 2. They only appeared in one episode (Episode 39, "Defective Detectives") in which they try to help Vanilla the Rabbit find her daughter, Cream. In this episode Charmy along with Vector and Espio broke the proverbial fourth wall by introducing themselves to the audience, Charmy mostly since he begged for more time to introduce himself. In Season 3, they play a much larger role. At first, they bring supplies to Chris, but Vector thinks they are also supposed to bring Cream back to her mother, Vanilla. Charmy seems to act as Vector's right-hand man during these missions, because while Espio reluctantly does them, Charmy is more enthusiastic when taking orders from Vector. Later, they appear to help fight the Metarex. Charmy seems to be calmer in the anime in comparison his video game counterpart.

Trivia

In the English manual of Knuckles' Chaotix, Charmy was labeled as being 16 years of age; however, with the release of Sonic Heroes, his age has been retconned to 6. It should be noted that the Japanese manual for Chaotix didn't list an age for Charmy as it did for the other characters, although the other characters' ages were also inconsistent with their later portrayals.

His size changed greatly from Chaotix (in which he was very small) to Sonic Heroes (in which he was approximately the size of Cream, who is smaller than other Sonic characters, but far larger than previously proportioned).

Charmy is the first (and currently only) anthropomorphic insect in the entire cast of the series in the video games.

During the cutscene that took place before the Egg Hawk battle in Sonic Heroes, Charmy acts as if he's never met Robotnik before, which contradicts the events that took place in Knuckles' Chaotix. This may be because Espio referred to him as Doctor Eggman, but Charmy may have remembered him as Doctor Robotnik. This also ignores the fact that the Chaotix keep pictures of the Badniks from the original Sonic the Hedgehog in their office.

However, a statement by Takashi Iizuka suggests that he considers the Chaotix totally reinvented from Knuckles' Chaotix for Sonic Heroes.[4]

So far, Charmy is the only member of the Chaotix not to appear playable without the rest of his team (Espio appeared in Sonic the Fighters and Sonic Rivals 2; Vector appeared in Mario & Sonic at the Olympic Games, its sequels, and Sonic Free Riders).

Charmy has proven, despite his small size, he is actually very strong because he can lift both Vector and Espio and remain in flight.

Charmy is one of the few male characters to wear clothes other than the usual gloves and shoes.

Charmy is seen to have a small bee badge on his jacket.

Charmy seems to be so scatterbrained that he sometimes can't remember what to do. In the DS version of Sonic Colors, Charmy seems to have forgotten that he was sent on a job and was too focused on the rides.

Charmy is the least seen character of the current Team Chaotix in the Sonic the Hedgehog video game series.

In Shadow the Hedgehog, he can't be controlled by the second player, unlike Vector and Espio. This is most likely because he floats like the Eggman monitor and Doom's Eye. Note that the Xbox version lacks multiplayer in story mode.